A appraiser finds himself stuck on an estate with a strange owner, a creepy house maid, and what appears to be a number of transients and bodies around the property. The premise and the magnetism of the protagonist compelled me to stick around despite this being an extremely slow burn. I wish I'd left, though. The second half had one silly and bizarre occurrence after another with no context and ultimately, the ending was predictable, long-winded, poorly executed and certainly not worth the time invested.The Hills Have Eyes [1977]

Rotten Tomatoes = 64 / 54
Personal = 7.9

A family's vehicle breaks down in the middle of the Nevada desert and leaves them unknowingly surrounded by cannibals. This gore horror cult classic, brought to us by one of the masters, Wes Craven
(The Last House on the Left,
A Nightmare on Elm Street)
is brutal, sadistic and, oddly, humorous in a tongue-in-cheek sorta way. Colorful and grotesque characters, strangely plausible albeit weird and ridiculous scenarios and some exceptionally good quotable lines. Still a favorite after 40 years.Get the Gringo [2012]

Rotten Tomatoes = 81 / 68
Personal = 7.6

A thief, who stole a few million dollars from a corrupt businessman, smashes through the border wall into Mexico only to have corrupt police take his money and throw him in prison. But he's figuring out all the angles. Well written and thoroughly engaging caper film in which our protagonist has to find a way to save a boy and his mother, foil the plans of of the head gangster in the prison, deal with a corrupt consulate official, get his money back all while avoiding being hit. It was genuinely fun watching him pull it off.Holidays [2016]

Rotten Tomatoes = 50 / 23
Personal = 6.1

An anthology horror film with each story centered around a particular holiday. Lots of vignettes in this one as they were all short and sweet. Some were pretty simple and straight forward. Others were seriously twisted and freakish. It has a few really choice moments (that Jesus bunny is real nightmare fuel), is darkly humorous, occasionally cringe worthy and, overall, pretty good ...not great but very entertaining.The Hills Have Eyes Part II [1984]

Rotten Tomatoes = 0 / 19
Personal = 1.8

This time, it's a bus load of young folks heading to a bike competition that gets stuck in the desert. It amazes me how Wes Craven could make such a classic cult horror film with
the original
and then follow it up with an absolutely awful sequel. This is simply horrendous. Not a single likable character, everyone is a total moron that makes completely ludicrous decisions. In fact, that's the only reason the 2 cannibals have any success as they're too damn stupid to be threatening. A totally amateur effort.Creep [2014]

Rotten Tomatoes = 96 / 65
Personal = 7.0

A videographer is hired to film a man's life for a day for $1000 under the premise that he's dying of cancer and wants his unborn son to see what dad was like. It doesn't take long before it's apparent a much more sinister motive is going on in this exceeding disturbing film. It's taking you to someplace horrible even though you have no idea where and you feel you should look away but the creep is so totally unnerving and unpredictable, you're locked in for the ride. The ending is a shocker.The Hills Have Eyes [2006]

Rotten Tomatoes = 50 / 58
Personal = 8.6

A case of someone making the mistake of trying to reboot a classic and making a superior film. See my
review of the original
if you want to know what it's about as this movie is exactly the same practically scene for scene, only better, right up to the trailer attack. Then the film goes into new territory that is grossly entertaining (pun intended) with incredibly colorful and grotesque mutants, violently brutal yet creative savagery and a relentlessness that doesn't let up. And they still maintained a level of humor. Bravo! Sunshine [2007]

Rotten Tomatoes = 76 / 73
Personal = 7.5

The sun is dying and the Icarus II is sent with a massive bomb to kick it back on 7 years after an apparent failure of Icarus I to do the same. This sounds like one of those totally implausible scenarios used to create a spec fx heavy adventure without any real science to back it up. But this film took great care to make it scientifically plausible and the human drama was as fantastic as the story. This is really good, hardcore sci fi and my only gripe is much of the action was blurry and shaky and was making me nauseous.